The Andean Northwest...Salta and JUJUY!!!

Salta was a blast. I hung out with natives the entire time, and spoke nothing but Spanish for 3 days, Super Bien! I made new friends who I truly hope to see again one day. I am forever grateful for them exposing me to the Argentinian culture and treating me like family, in fact, two of them, Celeste and Manuel were brother and sister. I was little jealous :) So I meandered around the city a lot, I got to know it VERY well. It´s always so annoying that after you know the ins and outs of the city you have to leave, ahh a part of traveling. With my new friend, Celeste, I rode the teleferico, which is essentially a gondola. It gave me a great view of the city and the mountains surrounding it!

We went out every night, saw live music in the street, typical folk Argentinian music, another night we went to a bar for a cover band, who seemed to love playing the classic american songs! I had such a great time with them, drinking mate, walking around, sharing music, and exchanging aspects of our culture. Side note: they were in Salta for a concert by Indio. People are obessed with this guy, so much that I bought a T-shirt with his logo, AND, when I arrive to Jujuy the girl at the front desk has a tattoo of the logo, OBSESSED!

I am rejuvinated from Salta, and am prepared for the next 4 weeks, ONLY 4 more weeks left. Time is going so fast. I made a delicious dinner of stirfryed veggies and tomato and avacado with tortilla and cheese. I have a picture. This is my last good home cooked meal for a while, since food poisoning is inevitable in Bolivia I am going to be very cautious on what I eat. I am prepared though, to get sick, I just hope its not as sick as I was in in El Salvador (remember sisters???).

After my friends left Salta, I decided to head to Coronel Moldes (can you find it on a map?) Its just a little town with a lake and a river with rapids. Here people do "extreme sports". Sounds right up my alley!! So I try to figure out how to get here. I ask a few people and they all send me in different directions. After about 30 min of a building frustration, I go to the central bus station and talk to someone. I really got so frustrated that I almost cried, haha...I had to verbally tell myself to calm down, it was just the time was passing, and I wanted to get there and back before dark. Alas, the man at the station directed me where to go. And it was a successful. About an hour after searching for a the bus, I found it (this was my first time getting on any city bus in South America)!!! I was certain of my success after meeting an older lady who was sitting on a bench near the bus. What a sweet lady she was, we talked for about 30 min until her bus arrived....Another 30 min passes and yay, the bus is here. Its about 3 ish now...I talk to myself telling myself to relax, I still have 4 solid hours to enjoy this day, and the bus ride is only 1hr....NOT...the bus ride was almost 2 hours. I then finally arrive to Moldes, it is 430 and the bus driver tells me the last bus back to Salta is at 5:10...haha, gotta love it, at this point I had been practicing patience and was not even slightly thrown askew from hearing this news. I walk around for 40 min snap a few pics of a lovely lake with beautiful landscapes.

Then I head on my way back to the bus for my 2 hour ride back to Salta. I spent my entire day on the bus. However, I found that I enjoyed it. I did a lot of poeple watching, saw lots of landscapes and went around the entire city of Salta...Overall an unexpectedaly decent day!! After arriving back to Salta I find to Aussies in my dorm room, YAY I finally spoke some English!! We had a couple drinks at the hostels bar on the rooftop and talked about what was mostly insignificant.

I now have arrived to Jujuy, after being convinced by by native friends in Salta, and I love it! If I had known that it was such a great city with copious beauty and nature amid, I would have come here earlier. In fact, I have chosen to stay one more day! I was convinced to stay longer, by another set of locales that I met yesterday. When I first arrived, I wanted to make the most of my day so instantly I got on a city bus (I am a pro now, I had absolutley no problem figuring it out this time) and I head to Tremes del Rey. This is a place up in the mountains about an hour outside the center of the city, that has natual thermal pools (I thought of you Amy). The views were stunning! It was a valley, with a little river in the middle, and green, lush mountains all around me. When I was in the thermal pool I was so relaxed, bathing in natural water from the mountains staring at mountain tops that were covered with clouds, brisk air brushing acrossed my face....ahhhh

(Awww bummer, the pics are sideways, well its takes literally 10 mins to upload one photo, so this will have to do, meh...)

Ohh, but this is not the whole story, prior to my arrival to Termas de Reyes, when I was on the bus, a guy started talking to me about where I was from and what I was doing. After walking around and arriving to the pool, I talk with him and am introduced to his two friends. This turns into us drinking mate, which turns into me meeting one of the girls uncles, who then takes us around the city is his car, we then go get an asado (BBQ), drink wine, and then I go to a town an hour away San Pedro, and drive around there, till suddenly it is 2 am and I am exhausted. What a day! I am grateful that I can speak Spanish, and therefore get to meet locals, and do what not every back packer gets to do! These new friends of mine have now convinced me to stay one more day in Jujuy, which is good, I wanted to communicate with you all before I left for Bolivia, which I leave tomorrow morning. I suspect I will have limited internet access, but I will do my best to keep in touch.

Caio-caio,

Andrea

Gato at the pool that just jumped up on my lap!!

Iguazu- Paradise

I was in the jungle for the last couple days. I met a couple of American´s on the bus to Iguazu that are teachers in BA. As it turned out they were taking a vacation to the Iguazu falls with a bunch of the gringos residing in BA. It was a nice change of pace to meet and follow other people, I ended up hanging out with this group of 8 or 9 people for my two days in Puerto Iguazu. It was nice to converse in Spanish with gringos, because they pronounce thier words better and speak slower and in more simple terms. Therefore, I can understand almost everything that is said. I was amongst americans, germans, frenchies, and a few spainards...I have to say I enjoyed being in a big group of people for once. For one, when I walked around the falls, I went by myself, but I would run into them and they would be so happy to see me, I don´t know if that makes any sence, but it felt like I was at Cedar Point in high school, running into groups of people you know all day. However, I will say that it made me appreciate my alone time more, I am so used to being alone with my thoughts for a good portion of the day. When I was around everyone all the time, I forgot to write in my journal, and even forgot to buy post cards...but I also appreciated the enjoyment of being with friends. Humans are a herding type of species, we don´t typically like to be in isolation...

I talked alot with each person, and at dinner I talked about my PhD work. Everyone was very interested in my studies and wanted to hear details about my thesis, I´m not going to be pessimistic and think they were just trying to be nice, I think that they were truly interested. It was great, I have not talked about my work in a month. Everyone was excited about it and even impressed. I in turn got excited about it, and where it has been easy for me to feel humble about my successes, it has been more difficult to feel proud of what I have accomplished, and this night I did, I felt very proud!

I have been reading a lot, since I have spent so much time on the busses lately. I am almost done reading the Alchemist. I am really enjoying it. It explained that the intense suffering that may come along with following your dreams will pass more quickly than the constant suffering that apperars to be bearable living each day without reaching for your dreams, which that latter goes on for years and without realizing it eats your soul until we can no longer be free from it and the bitterness stays with us forever. It also talks about the guilt one feels when deciding to go on their personal journey. Here I´ll quote it, "The mere possibilty of getting what we want fills the soul of the oridinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far". So it kinda took a burden off me to see this written down as I have had these feelings before. Okay enough about my growth, what you want to see are the falls...

On Friday I spent the entire day at the Iguazu National Park. It was breath-taking, memorizing, and thought provoking. There were hundreds of falls, and one very large fall, called Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat). The drop sucked down all the water spewing up mist that allowed for the most beautiful rainbows to radiate, making you realize the reality of nature.

These falls have existed for years, well beyond my 26 years here. While the water moves continuosuly and rapidly it was now flowing coetaneously with me... I am not sure I can even do the falls justice by words nor can I desribe how I felt seeing them. I do have pictures, yay!!! Still, they neither do this dreamy world justice. All I can say is that it was loud, magnificent, powerful, and colorful...GOOOOO!!!

Saturday I spent the whole day on the bus and SundayI arrived to my next destination, I am in Salta!!!!! I could not be happier. After driving through the jungle and the arid desert, on a bus ride that I don´t care to tell you about or even want to remember, I have arrived to the beautiful mountains. The emotions that I felt after arrving to Ushuaia, and Puerto Natales came rushing back. I could not stop smiling, I could feel the difference, the energy here is positive. The people seem friendly, the city is not too big, and I am surrounded by lush green forests covering the mountains. Did I mention the heat and humidity in Puerto Iguazu?? Ohh, it was a sticky hot mess, like August 1st in Michigan, slightly miserable...but they call this paradise!!!

So now I met some locals and we went out to a festival on the streets and listened to classic "folk" Argentinian musi allllllll night!! Good times!! Fireworks, dancing, happy people singing thier favorite songs!! Okay kids I am out...

Today, I will look for adventure, and will be sure to report back to you all after it is all said and done...

Take it easy, miss you lots!!

Andrea

Hard Knock life in BA

Ahhhh, I am leaving BA tomorrow evening. I was excited to go to the city and to leave Patagonia, get away from all the adventure and trekking for a few days, but I enterd BA and found more adventure than I anticipated. I've been nursing my bed bug bites, which have very attractively formed blisters and now are scabbing over, super sexy, have been attemping to spend fake money, and spent hours at the police station reporting my stolen camera....am I bitching enough yet?

So lets talk about it, as much as I am angry with the city, I have to remember that Detroit is really not all that different. I have lost a catalytic coverter and replaced about 5 windows on my car. A native girl and I were talking and she told me that she was on a bus on her way to the university for an exam and she heard what sounded like someone zipping up their jacket while she was intently thinking of mathematical equations and her test. After her exam she goes to put something in her bag only to discover that someone had literally cut her bag open with a knife and stole all her belongings. Boooo....Its not good to feel content after hearing of someone elses misery, but I did. It reminded me that bad things happen and you have to move on. I can not change the past, although I wish I could. I can only learn from my mistake and take this expeirence for what it is worth.

I went to a restaurant tonight, and I heard Bob Marley's "three little birds", kind of ironic. "Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright"...made me feel good, aided in flipping my mood. I am in much higher spirits after I bought a new camera, exchanged some very positive emails with Renee, and chatted briefly with my mom on the phone. Feeling groovy, all is well. I am very excited about going to Iguazu, followed by Salta, and Bolivia!!!!

You all are amazing humans, trying to keep me a float when we are thousands of miles from each other, I couln't be more lucky and grateful to be in your thoughts....you are in mine as well!!

Sorry, no new pics, haha. It's okay, you can laugh :)

Cheers,

Andrea

Buenos Aires

Since my arrival to BA no one has been taking "some" of my money. It was only after I got into a cab after leaving the madness, comprising of teenagers getting wasted at my hostel, that the driver told me my money is false. HA! I got this money from the ATM. I still had enough real money to pay him and then I went into a local bar. I order my beer and attempt to pay with this money, ah no. All of my remaining money,about 55 USD is fake. Shit! The bartender kindly gives me the beer for free. I then meet a writer from California and he walks me to the ATM (because the security guard said it was too dangerous for me to walk alone), albeit there is no money in the machine. This guy was then nice enough to give me some pesos to buy a beer and get a cab ride back to my hostel. (Good thing I gave that girl my shoes in Chile) I go the bank today and S.O.L. the view from outside my hostel, which is this old mansion, super pretty!!


look at the puppy... hahahahaha..WTF???

BA is not treating me well, it is hot hot hot here and in my hostal I am surrounded by kidz abusing drugs and alcohol...dang I must be getting old. Today I have walked all morning, saw the casa rosasda "pink house", which is similar to the white house. I will then meet the guy who gave me money to pay him back, get outside the center, and explore Palmero. Just thought I would share my money catastrophe.

P.S. I bought some after bite...I took a couple pics here, as requested by Joao, to keep it PG, I just sent the ones on my arms and upper chest. I have way more on my back and fingers, and wrist, but I couldn't get a good pic
Lastly, one last pic from my journey in El Chalten, I don't know why these signs fascinate me, they are far from unique, but I guess it just reminds me how far away from everyone I am.

Caio caio Patagonia

Hey! Sooo...I have arrived to Buenos Aires today. I think I left off in Puerto Natales, ohh yah, I went out that night until 4 am, bad idea. I was awoken at 640 because my bus to El Calafate was waiting outside for me. I hustled and got on the bus. This day I went and saw Perito Moreno, a glacier containing one of the largest supplies of fresh water in the world!! I went out on boat cruise and got really close to it.



Pretty neat stuff. I quickly, that very day headed to El Chalten, as seen. [P.S. Those two walls you see in town are the walls that I climbed]. El Chalten is located in the Glaciar National Park, and has a population of about 1,500 people. Yup, you heard me, 1,500 people. It was a very tiny town, and of course, expensive! The hostels were expensive, but I found this little place that was only 9 USD. WOO!!! NOOOO not wooo....I found for my fist time, drum roll.....BED BUGS, and in lieu, I lost blood. I have probably about 100 bites. All over my arms, fingers, back, chest, neck, and ears. Basically anywhere that was not covered. I feel so violated :[

Lets move on, El Chalten was, aside from the bed bugs, awesome. I hiked to a very famous mountain, Fitz Roy, a glacier, Cerro Torre, and I went, for my first time rock climbing! I want to make a little note here, that I actually tried to draw the images that I saw at Fitz Roy, and I thought of Joao the whole time...I am a scientist, not an artist, but I'll have this image drawn in my journal forever, kind of a joke... Rock climbing, it was harder than I thought. I climbed for about 3 hours, before I tried the hardest wall of the day, and failed. I cried. I was so mad/sad/disappointed in myself for not having been able to climb the last rock, but the guide insisted that it was okay. I mean I was standing there in the same spot for about 15 min, trying to find a place to put my foot, and pull myself up. My arms, just would not pull my body up, I was exhausted and freezing.Usually, people do this kind of thing in groups and take lots of breaks. Where I was alone, and took few breaks. On top of that it was a nasty day, very windy, raining, and freezing. My hands were numb, I could hardly write after I was done, my hands were kinda paralysed!! I did it though, and I do want to do it again, maybe in sunny, temperate conditions though :]

As I said, I am now in BA, and its very overwhelming, I leave a town with 1500 people and come to a city with 13,000,000. You can imagine the culture shock....In response to your comment mom, I did walk all of Florida St today, it was, again, overwhelming. SOOO many people, vendors, food, just not what I have been used to the last 3 weeks.

In addition, the people here are all dressed up stylish, and partying all night, I am just in a different mindset right now. I will stay here at least 3 nights, then head to the falls, northern Argentina, and then Bolivia..I am 3 weeks in and 5 left, wow how time flys. I want to thank everyone for their comments, it is nice to hear from you!

MISS YOU!!!

Cheers, Andy

Torres del Paine (Cloud World)...Come for the water, ohh and the glaciers, mountains, and stuff!

WOW!!! I really don´t know how to begin. I just finished my 4 night, 5 day, 58 mile, backpacking trip through Torres del Paine National Park. Here you can drink all the water from all the streams and lakes or rivers, you could probably even lap the water right out of a muddy, stagnant, puddle (I was tempted, but I did not do this :)) When we drove in on the bus I was a little nervous, but more excited than anything else. The first picture I took was an image that reminded me of the cloud world in Super Mario brothers, if only I had remembered to raid Mario´s closet for his helicopter hat or fox tail, shoot!

Day 1: After taking the 7am bus, to another bus, then to a catamaran to our starting location, Grande Paine, we started our assent to Glacier Grey! I chose to walk 4

more km to the next camp site, which was all up-mountain, to camp and get a better view of the glacier.

It was definitely worth it! In total we hiked 15 km or about 9 miles. Here we illegally made a campfire and I met two friends from Romania and Switzerland. We sat by the fire, listened to reggae (courtesy of the Romanian, I did NOT bring any electronics), drank whiskey (courtesy of me, of course), and shared stories about ourselves. What a great night, uh-emmm, not quite... After retreating to my tent, I realized wow, I can´t sleep. I tossed and turned all night, clenching my clammy hands, and trying to figure out how to get warm. It must have been about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Needless to say, I did not sleep more than 45 min at a time for the entire evening. At one point, I did hit REM, and I had a nightmare that it had snowed 4 inches when I got out of my tent. I had to actually peek out and make sure this was not true!! (P.S. this is just the beginning of the crazy dreams of which I will not go into too much detail on)

Day 2: I get out of my tent after a restless night and begin the descent back to the start site, where I would quickly eat lunch, take my shoes off my already aching feet, and head to the next campsite. Today I hiked almost 25 km, thats about 15 miles. I found myself in good spirits, grateful to have hiked 7 hours by myself, but anticipating the city, where there was pizza, and beer. OHH, so when I ate lunch I ran into a Swedish girl that I had previously met, her ankle was swollen. She borrowed shoes from the hostel that had part of the back of the shoe cut out of them and it was rubbing against her Achilles tendon. I gave her my keen sandals, not without any reservations, but I did. She in turn have me some shitty flip-flops so I had a different pair of shoes to wear when walking around the campsite. Fair trade? I think not, but ehhh...I am sure someone would have done it for me!

And if you care to know, all I eat is pasta with tomato sauce at night, tortilla and salami for lunch, cereal for breakfast, nuts, raisins, and snickers for snacks, that´s it, every day, same thing!

Day 3: Today I get out of my tent after yet another restless night, it was sooooo cold, and instead of sleeping in my -9 celcius bag with only bra and underware like a smart camper, I put on more and more clothes, until I am sweating, my bag is getting humid, and there is no way I am sleeping. So I get out, and start my assent into the French Valley. WOW!! What a tough hike, the first hour was all up-mountain, yikes, and not only that but up these very large rocks. The sights were beautiful though and I did enjoy the hike. However, after being sleep deprived I decided during this hike that I could not possibly endure more. I would skip the last day of the hike and go home. I then wrote some pathetic post cards to my sisters and mom, since I figured they would not mind hearing me complain a little. This day I hiked about 20 km, thats about 12 miles. It was really sad, because I was mentally defeated, I had no belief that I could make it through the rest of the hike after the difficulty of todays. On my way back down the French Valley, I ran into a few people, my friends, Stefan and Louie that were solo travelers hiking together. They tried to get me excited and to sleep on it (HAH), Okay, I will see how tomorrow looks.

Day 4: I SLEPT!! 3.5 hours straight, and it really made a difference. You may think I am exaggerating when I say I am not sleeping at night, but seriously, I am not sleeping, or I wasn´t! On this day, I thank whatever is higher and mightier than myself for giving me the strength to get to Las Torres campsite, a mere one hour from the towers, the highlight of the trek! We went to sleep this night early, in order to get up for the one hour assent before the sunrise.

Day 5: I awoke this morning at exactly 6 am, after a nightmare where I had gone back to my moms house in Highland and Jerry had pointed out that the sun was rising, I freaked out and got in my car to drive to Chile, because I thought that I would be able to make it there before the sun rose (hehehe). So I got out of my tent threw on wayyyyy too much clothes, under armor pants, hiking pants, tank top, long sleeve shirt, my fleece, and a wind jacket. The hike up was extremely challenging and I was on sweating like crazy. In fact, the entire way I down, I was so grateful that it was dark on my way, for if I had seen what lie ahead of me when hiking at 6 am I may have surrendered to the steep incline (NOOOO, maybe not I had come too far at this point).

Sooo, I made it up and I saw what was the most brilliant colors against the Torres del Paine.

It was magnificent to say the least. Everyone should witness what I saw. I was so grateful for the beautiful weather, my pèssimistic Swiss friend said ehhh the weather will be shitty, I will not hike in the morning if its bad, but I made him get up declaring that I scould see the stars, I told him that I knew the sun, whihc had not shown its face but once in the last 5 days, had been waiting for me to get here. Anddddd, it was waiting for me, it was the best day of the trek. Ahhhhh....

I am back now in Puerto Natales to quickly get this message to whom ever cares to receive it, and now I am having dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with the Swedish girl who I gave my keens too, we then will go out to the bar and have a bon voyage of sorts.

Cheers, keep it real, I love and miss you all!!!

Andrea

P.S. If you made it this far I will tell you, something strange happened, my pee was orange, like bright orange... not sure what that was all about :/

Patagonia...

I have arrived to Puerto Natales, after spending one night in Punta Arenas (shown here)....ahhhh...I sigh because Punta Arenas despite the amazing tour to Isla de Magdalena to observe the magellenic penguins and sea lions, was not the best place I have been. It was dirty, lots of stray dogs, abandoned buildings, and not really too much to see. I arrived after a long, 13hr, bus ride from Ushuaia, the cool part was that we loaded the bus and ourselves onto a ferry, got to see a dolphin, and empathize with a truck loaded with sheep. I then arrive to my hostal, which was ehhh, not worth what I payed for. I right away booked my tour to see the penguins and sea lions, bought a bus ticket for the next day for Puerto Natales, ate some food and passed out. After having to get up at 4 am for my 5 am bus this day, I then woke up this (Tuesday) morning at 6 am for a 7 am tour, Yeesh...

I did get to see the sun rise and it was beautiful. At first the sun came up behind the mountains creating a fuschia hazy reflection on the, at this early in the morning, calm water. 30 min later we loaded onto a little boat and headed out to the Island where I saw hundreds of thousands of magellenic penguins. After we went to observe an island of sea lions, however we were not able to walk here, because these crazy mammals are quite dangerous, I wouldn´t mess with one!

After the tour, I napped and went into the center of town and bought a hand-made headband hat thing for the hike, so the top of my head can be free to release heat from what I presume to be a difficult hike in Torres del Paine. In addition I made a donation to CODDA, an organization aiming to reduce the stray dog population, which is 20,000!! Keep in mind that the human popualtion is only 130,000. Yes, it is true. Alas, I left on the 5:30 pm bus...

When I road into Puerto Natales I instantly felt the change in energy. The town is clean, there are still stray dogs, but less, and they serve (North) American breakfast in my hostal. This means, not just the typical bread with butter and jelly (ugh..), but eggs too!! In addition the hostal also has free internet with USB (hence the post and pics :)), they recycle, and I can drink the water from the faucet, booo-yawww, ohh, but its not cheap...

I made a fantastic dinner: avocado, cucumber, red pepper, onion, garlic, cabbage, tomato salsa on top of a corn tortilla with melted cheese, yuuuummmm....One question that has been asked is what I eat..I prepare most of my meals (budget plan), therefore, I live off of eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, cheese, bread, nuts, raisins, and yogurt. I have bought prepared food a couple times, and I always choose empanadas, they are quite delicious!! Ohh and I did buy a milanesa sandwich one day, which is meat and eggs, cheese, tomato, and lettuce. I have yet to purchase a real full meal!

I am now planning my 5 day trek. I plan all day tomorrow, rent my gear, and buy my food. I leave on Thursday morning, WOOO HOOOO!

I will be sure to post something when I return, which will not be before Monday!!

CIAOOOO!

Andrea

One last thing, I want to post pic last time in Ushuaia, but I ran out of time! This is some local graffiti on the corner outside the hostal, I thought it was pretty cool and worth sharing

Bienvenido a Ushuaia

Hello! I am here. in Ushuaia. Let me start by saying it is like no place I have been before. If given the opportunity, you should try to visit. The airport looks like a lodge up north with its wooden beams and tiny space. When you first arrive you will find that the city is completely surrounded by mountains and water. The Andes are to the west, mountains hiding a glacier (martial) are behind the city, and the rest is unbelieveable blue blue water engulfing little islands loaded with sea lions and penguins! This was so great to see considering in Buenos Aires the water is a muddy, sandy brown. I am beginning to realize that one of the main downfalls of this trip is going to be my lack of planning. However, I have no doubt that everything will fall into place.

So Thursday I went to Tierra del Fuego National Park. I met a French guy who was going so I tagged along with him. It was so pretty. I took many photos. We hiked 20km, so about 12 miles all day. It was medium difficulty. There is a sign at the end of the park that says el fin del mundo (the end f the world), the theme of Ushuaia. It also says Alaska is some 17800 km from this very point. Kinda cool...

Friday I went into the mountains behind Ushuaia and up to Glacier Martial. Let me tell you, I was not totally prepared for this difficult hike. The trail escalated at one point almost at a 40 degree angle, needless to say it was tough. I kept thinking about how aweful the walk down was going to be! It took me about two hours to hike up to an elevationof 1000m, I am not sure how long the actual path was. I think I did a pretty good job capturing the steepness, but probably not. At first I thought well that wasn´t that bad, but I found myself thinking, as I passed people headed up on my way down, "sucker". After the hike I decided that I would walk back to town, I was told (and what clearly was a miscommunication) by one of the french kids, that the way down was only 20 min. So then, I walked not for 20 min, but for 1hour and 20 min totaling another 2.5 miles down the mountain side into town. I thought it was a good idea becuase as I was making my decision to walk I saw a guy pass me and he was walking. I was a little ways behind him, so I figured, yup 20 min, and I followed. He cut down into a path between the winding roads, I followed , I then discovered that the dog that I had pet and sat next to at the end of the glacier trail was following me, cool, a companion! The dog walked ahead and the guy who I was following was now out of sight, so I followed the dog, who took me through another great shortcut between the roads! We get to another path, but this one is made of rocks and sand and was very steep. I stopped and thought, "make good decisions", but after walking down from the steep pathways that I had drug myself up at the galcier, I had little fear. After my first 2 steps I realized, bad idea bad idea!! I slipped a few times, but only suffered minor scrapes on my hands. Now after about 20 min the dog, my leader, had left me. I found another not so steep, compact path and took that for a ways, it proved to be very trustworthy and led me back to the beginning of residence on the mountain side. At this point I had been walking for about 40 min, and would-you-look-at-that, my dog is still there! I see the dog across the road still following me, I lost the dog here though becuase I found a ledge looking over the city that I could look at to see where the hell I was and where I needed to go. To finish a long story, I made it back t my hostal 40 min later, yup, I made it a total of 1hr and 20 mins later!! My legs were killing me, my things and my shins. Walking down a steep slope is no joke!

I wanted to leave today, Saturday, for Punta Arenas in Chile, but the bus was full. So I am kind of stuck here in Ushuaia for 2 more days. I take a bus on Monday at 5am. I am debating on going on a five day camping hike through Torres del Paine in Chile. Not sure I want to do 5 nights of camping, as it would require. But I am thowing it out there as something to do while in Patagonia. Patagonia is expensive. The food, transporation, and hostals are all over priced as compared to other parts of Argentina. This is a tourist area though, full of French people, really. Majority of the people in this hostal are French or Swiss. Everyone speaks French which is kind of frustrating, becuase I came here to speak Spanish, blah blah...

Thats all I have for now. I have been here 4 days and can only imagine how much more I have to see and learn in the next 60 days I have left here!

CHEERS!!!